From birth to around two years old, children are in Piaget's _____ stage(s) of cognitive development.

From birth to around two years old, children are in Piaget's _____ stage(s) of cognitive development.

• A. Sensorimotor
• B. Preoperational
• C. Concrete operational
• D. Formal operational

Answer: (A)

Piaget’s sensorimotor stage describes how infants learn about the world through direct sensory experiences and motor actions from birth up to about two years old. In this period, thinking is grounded in what is immediately perceived and acted upon. Babies move from reflexive responses to more deliberate actions, developing schemes through circular reactions and, crucially, object permanence—the understanding that objects continue to exist even when not visible. Language is minimal, and mental representation is not yet developed, so complex or symbolic thought isn’t present. As children approach two, they start to show transitional behaviors toward symbolic thought, which marks the shift toward the next stage. The other stages aren’t appropriate for this age range: the preoperational stage begins around age two with blossoming symbolic thinking and pretend play, the concrete operational stage starts around seven with logical thinking about concrete events, and formal operational thinking appears in adolescence with abstract reasoning.